First Foxden war
The First Foxden war, also known as the EPOSS–FDF war, was a two-week civil war within the Kingdom of Foxden during March 2014, fought between opposition terrorist organisation EPOSS and the government-aligned Foxden Defence Force (FDF), the latter with the alleged support of the Government of Foxden. It was the first part of the wider Foxden Civil War. The war was sparked by the attack of the Winter Olympics in Foxchi on 9 March after several days of rising tensions in the build up to the opening ceremony. EPOSS had been formed secretly many days previously in opposition to the 'capitalist' Winter Olympics coming to the Kingdom of Foxden and general opposition to the Government. Following the attack, government-aligned lone wolves combined forces to form the paramilitary organisation the FDF later that night. It was later revealed that the FDF eventually became a "puppet organisation" of the government, with EPOSS alleging that the FDF were just 'another wing of the government's military'. This was later revealed to be true. The war ended on 23 March with the signing of the historic Treaty of Endstone, where the FDF abandoned their ties with the government and amalgamated into EPOSS. The combined force continued fighting with the Second Foxden war. Timeline Prior to 9 March In the days leading up to the opening ceremony of the 2014 Foxchi Olympics, the government received a number of letters hinting at a possible attack on the Olympics. As a result, security was stepped up and several police raids were carried out, to no avail, in Foxden City. On 8 March, security personnel on site discovered a number of "crude tunnels" underneath the Olympic site which had been dug by hand by terrorists and rigged with explosives placed strategically beneath certain sites. The government confirmed that all explosives had been deactivated and tunnels sealed, admitting that there had been a huge lapse in security and that the attack, had it taken place, would have been incredibly deadly and devastating. 9 March During the evening of 9 March, EPOSS carried out a series of attacks on Foxchi during the Olympics opening ceremony which led to the deaths of six people. The attacks were on a much smaller scale than the "tunnel plan", as they were drawn up at the last minute, but were effective. EPOSS used several lava-based devices (LBDs), which worked to quickly burn their targets to death. Lava-based devices have a small range and are more suited to killing individual people at a time rather than killing many all at once; however, there was nothing to suggest that those killed were targeted for any particular reason. EPOSS later confirmed that those killed were "random people" that they picked out from the crowd. The attack led to significant backlash; the government condemned the attacks. Responsibility for the attacks was not claimed by EPOSS until 17 March, the day when they themselves officially acknowledged their existence. Late during the night of 9 March, government-allied vigilantes founded the Foxden Defence Force paramilitary group in order to protect the kingdom. 10 March The following day, a large protest was organised by the FDF to take place on Foxden Street, Foxden City, the reported headquarters of the perpetrators of the previous day's attacks. FDF officials pleaded with protesters to keep the protest peaceful, but nonetheless, a large amount of weapons were smuggled to the protest and things soon turned violent. Protesters attempted to storm the headquarters, while attacking it with LBDs and fire-based devices (FBDs). The sudden revolt led to EPOSS forces appearing from out of the building and attacking FDF protesters with the same type of LBDs used in the Olympics attack, leading to a number of casualties. Following the terrorist response, the order was given for FDF forces to continue to attack with any weapon they could get their hands on. This order resulted in intense fighting in Foxden Street and surrounding areas, with twenty people being killed in total in an event which was later named the "Battle of Foxden Street". The FDF called a truce after little more over half an hour of bloodshed, with EPOSS forces returning to their headquarters and FDF forces returning home. Several people were injured in an incident later that night outside the EPOSS HQ when a small group of people attempted to climb the building. EPOSS forces responded by firing warning LBD shots, one of which misfired and led to serious injury. FDF denied that the group of people involved were affiliated to them and labelled them "crazy, stupid vigilantes". 11–15 March Between the 11 March and 15 March, a fragile truce was in place, which led to reduced violence over the previous day. However, tensions were high and both sides were heavily armed, with skirmishes occurring very often; the truce was only in effect theoretically, as fighting did still take place. However, nobody was killed, and it appeared that the Kingdom was largely returning to normal. 16 March During the evening of 16 March, FDF forces began to attack the EPOSS headquarters once again after reports circulated of EPOSS planning a huge attack on the FDF. This led to renewed fighting along Foxden Street, which was termed the "Second Battle of Foxden Street" by some analysts. The second battle was different from the first, as both sides largely used less-deadly FBDs instead of LBDs, although the odd LBD was fired. Both sides also caused more damage than last time, with large trenches being dug and barricades being erected, especially around the headquarters building. Despite the less dangerous weaponry, nineteen people were killed. In total eleven people were killed during the "second battle" on 16 March. The fragile truce, which had largely existed theoretically only for the previous four days, was completely shattered. 17 March Early on 17 March, EPOSS finally acknowledged themselves their existence, apparently because it had become "impossible to stay secret" any longer. Most people already knew of EPOSS' existence, but they refused to acknowledge it themselves. Later that day, they claimed responsibility for the Olympics attacks, and confirmed they were the so-called "terrorist group" involved in the two Foxden Street battles. EPOSS members began to protest outside Foxden Mall against high enchantment prices and austerity measures that afternoon. One of EPOSS' aims was to end high pricing; their name reportedly stands for "Enchantment Price of Sticks Strike", but this has not been confirmed. The protest turned violent during the evening, with areas outside the Mall being burned. The two water fountains were converted into "lava fountains" after LBDs were placed on them. Two EPOSS members burned to death, both in accidents, and there were rumours of an assassination attempt on jeffersonwhewell taking place. This was denied by EPOSS and the government. 18 March A second day of protests outside Foxden Mall occurred on 17 March. Undeterred by the previous day's failure - the Mall remained open during the protest and two protesters were killed in vain - EPOSS members launched a stronger attack on the Mall. A large stone barricade was erected in front of the Mall and set alight, forcing the Mall to close and allowing protesters to storm the roof of the building. There was a strong FDF prescence at these protests, but their involvement was minimal. They helped to block roads and create diversions in order to redirect passersby away from the Mall, because they thought it was unsafe. Only minor skirmishes occurred between EPOSS and the FDF, and only very briefly in each case. Significant damage was caused to the Mall gardens and roof as protesters began to riot shortly after climbing to the roof. A large number of LBDs and FBDs were deployed against the Mall by EPOSS members. As a result, three people were killed as a result of LBD-inflicted injuries - two of these being EPOSS members and the other being a "government militiaman". Another EPOSS member was killed after falling from the roof of the Mall. The militiaman was later identified as an FDF member. Protests largely died down by the evening and, once the barricade had been cleared around the entrance and the Mall made safe, it was reopened to the public. Following the end of the protests and rioting, the large FDF presence in the area subsided relatively quickly. However, later that evening, two explosive devices were detonated in Foxden City. One of these was outside the entrance to the Mall, leading to the death of one FDF soldier. The other attack occurred on Foxden Street close to the entrance to the Spleef Arena, but caused no fatalities. The twin bombings marked "a step up" in the conflict, according to an FDF spokesperson. Following the bombings, a government raid took place on the EPOSS headquarters in the only incident that the government themselves claimed responsibility for, as opposed to the FDF. Two people were arrested after a largely unsuccessful raid; one of these was later found to have been a falsely-accused visitor. Both suspects managed to escape police custody, and the one wanted suspect was never refound. 19 March On 19 March, the Kingdom Railway was forced to close due to the theft of a redstone torch, leading to a loss of electric power along one section of the railway close to the Rail Bridge. EPOSS immediately claimed responsibility for the theft. EPOSS announced a public open-air meeting was to take place that same day on the field behind their headquarters. EPOSS members managed to hold back protesting FDF forces as other EPOSS members constructed a podium and erected seating in the field. Security at the event was low; the head of EPOSS, bluedestroyer88, gave his speeches with only several guards around the site. Shortly after the meeting began, two explosions occurred at the meeting site followed by a further explosion in front of the EPOSS headquarters. Two people were killed at the meeting while there were no fatalities in the Foxden Street attack. Despite the damage and death toll, the meeting continued with a slight delay. The FDF later claimed responsibility for the attack. Members of the general public took photos of snipers wearing FDF uniform located on nearby trees and buildings. The snipers had gone completely undetected by EPOSS and were there in case the bombings failed or EPOSS launched an armed response. 20 March Four FDF members were killed while trying to protect the Spawntower from attack by EPOSS during an EPOSS rally outside the spawn area in a day that was relatively calm compared to previous days. 21 March EPOSS announced that they had organised a second open-air public meeting for 21 March; the FDF responded with warnings of "serious sanctions" at the event. The FDF announced that they would blockade roads leading up to the meeting site and try to force it to be cancelled, or at least force people to boycott it. An EPOSS leak announced that the FDF were planning a second round of bomb attacks at this meeting which would be at a higher level than before. However, the meeting was cancelled a few hours before it was scheduled to take place and FDF forces were stood down accordingly. EPOSS claimed the meeting was cancelled due to "unforeseen reasons" and would be rescheduled for a later date, but the FDF claimed that they had "successfully intimidated" EPOSS into cancelling the meeting. 22 March During the morning of 22 March, it was announced that the Sunflower Underground Electric Railway, a private freight transport railway running under parts of Foxden City, had been hijacked by FDF forces and control of it had been completely lost by the owners and government. The railway reportedly has links with two important FDF buildings. FDF denied that they were to use the route as a weapon smuggling route, claiming they had gained intelligence of a plan for EPOSS to take over the strategic rail link for the same purposes. However, EPOSS stressed that they didn't even know the railway existed and condemned the FDF for their use of it as a smuggling route. The seizure of the SUER caused heightened tensions between EPOSS and FDF members. Several people were reported injured at skirmishes between FDF security and EPOSS protesters at entrances to the railway. Several hours after the seizure, one FDF security member was killed in an explosion at one of termini of the railway. EPOSS were quite to place the blame on an electrical failure; an investigation by the FDF found that EPOSS had "deliberately and devastatingly" overloaded the electrical transformers which power the railway by putting too much energy into them, causing them to explode. The explosions crippled the railway, causing holes in the track and total loss of electric power to the tracks, placing it out of action until repairs could be made. 23 March In a press conference on 23 March, the FDF announced that the track damage to the Sunflower Underground Electric Railway had been fixed and countermeasures had been put into place on the SUER electrical transformers, preventing them from being hijacked by EPOSS and overloaded. The war came to an end during the evening of 23 March following a peace treaty. Treaty of Endstone Main article: Treaty of Endstone It was announced that during 23 March, strained relations between the government and the FDF had become "simply too much", resulting in the FDF splitting away from the government. Shortly afterwards, the FDF signed a peace treaty with EPOSS. Later that evening, it was announced that the FDF would cease to exist from 24 March. All FDF members would be granted automatic membership to EPOSS, but would be able to quit EPOSS immediately if they wished to. The government condemned the FDF's side-switching. Causes of the war According to EPOSS, their motivation for starting the war was the high prices of enchanting objects and the oppression of freedom of speech in Foxden; in general, their strong opposition to the government. The FDF, however, were strongly allied with (and suspected to be strongly influenced by) the government. Their sole purpose, according to their website, is to "protect Foxden and it's citizens, no matter what". They were essentially founded in direct opposition to EPOSS. However, following the side-switching of the FDF, they adopted all EPOSS principles.